From out of the dust and debris-filled whirlwinds of construction that engulfed Warren these past couple years, the brand new, state-of-the-art Warren Culinary Arts Center emerged, causing gawks of awe from both teachers and students alike.
This new facility, with its high-tech structure and numerous components were subject to curiosity and compliments from all around campus, as no other facility like this has ever been built on Warren’s school grounds.
“The kitchen has really expensive machines, and the machines pretty much do everything for you,” said Freddy Gallardo, a senior at Warren and a student of the foods class in the culinary arts program. “It’s great because they’re brand new and really great to work with, so I really enjoy being in that class.”
“The students at Warren High, as well as ROP students enrolled in the district, are allowed access to the center,” said Therese Duffy, the Culinary Arts teacher at Warren.
The program is truly fortunate this year, giving students that are a part of the program particular access to the new facility and all of its state-of-the-art features. Amongst these commendable features is an Electrolux combination steamer/convection oven, as well as a blast chiller.
Once a mere classroom located in the D-hallway, the transformation of the room into this sophisticated culinary arts center took two years of construction to finish. Just completed this past summer, the center is now ready and is open for the 2009 school year.
Surely, such a facility cannot be built without a cost, and the cost of Warren’s new kitchen was approximately $3 million.
“There was a matching grant that was written,” said Duffy, explaining how the culinary arts center was funded and paid for.